1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the use of computer networks (such as the Internet) for the purchase of goods and/or services, and more specifically relates to a computer-implemented method for on-line comparison of competitors' prices and automatic price reduction, over a distributed computer network such as the Internet's World Wide Web.
2. Description of Background Art
On-line shopping is the display and sales of goods over a computer network. On-line shopping has exploded in popularity in recent years, as more and more people use computer networks. Generally, a potential customer can visit an on-line shopping site and can view selections or request specific items. The customer can place an order, pay for it using a credit card, and have it delivered to his or her home. The commercial importance of on-line shopping is rapidly growing as more and more people use the Internet. Surveys show that 5.6 million people have purchased products and services on-line over a recent 12 month period. These purchases were made by approximately 27 percent of the adult Internet users. Estimates are that 55 million adults will become Internet users in the near future.
On-line shopping is enjoying widespread popularity because of several attributes. In a survey of Internet users, the most-cited reasons for using on-line shopping were convenience, availability of vendor information, no pressure from sales people, and time savings. The greatest attribute for consumers is the convenience it offers. On-line shopping can be done at home, at work, at a library, or anywhere a person can gain access to a computer network. The second convenience factor is the ability to browse or shop at any time, day or night, in bad weather, or on weekends or holidays. Also, on-line shopping provides a much needed service to people who have difficulty getting out to conventional stores, such as elderly, shut-ins, or persons with small children. Further advantages are the opportunities for shoppers to compare goods and prices of competitors nearly simultaneously, allowing shoppers to perform price comparisons and choose the item with the best price or value.
On-line shopping has advantages for vendors, also. It gives vendors access to an enormous international base of potential customers. It requires lower overhead than a conventional store. It also allows for greater flexibility to a vendor, because changes in goods and prices can be made instantly, while allowing the vendor to simultaneously provide shoppers with information about each product. This flexibility is important in that it gives vendors the opportunity to be more competitive by being able to react quickly to changes in price by competitors.
Vendors who wish to be competitive with competitors must constantly be aware of the prices of their competitors. Prices of goods for sale on computer networks, as in conventional stores, generally stay relatively fixed, but there is always some price-jockeying by some vendors who wish to be able to claim the lowest prices. Currently, three main approaches exist for performing price comparisons (and therefore, indirectly, price adjustments). A vendor can make periodic comparisons with competitors' prices, can compare competitors' prices when a customer complains, or can compare prices when a customer makes a price inquiry.
Periodic comparisons of the prices of competitors have drawbacks in that periodic comparisons may not reliably keep up with changes by competitors. Also, a great amount of effort is required in comparing all prices of all common products against a fixed set of competitors.
Price comparisons when a customer complains incur less work than periodic comparisons, but have other drawbacks. By not changing price more or less in synch with the competition, a vendor may unknowingly lose existing or potential customers who are turned away by a higher displayed price. Also, it will make the vendor less competitive by having no reputation for lower prices.
Making price comparisons whenever a customer makes a price inquiry, while potentially making a vendor competitive, requires a vendor to manually and individually seek prices of competitors' products, which is slow and cumbersome and does not lend itself to real-time responses to customers' on-line queries.
The drawback of manual price comparisons for the on-line customer is that the customer may have to visit many sites in order to find the lowest price. The customer may then have difficulty in getting back to the site having the lowest price, or it may take too much time or effort to return. The net effect for a vendor may be that a customer may not return to his or her site.
There thus exists a need in the art for a computer-implemented on-line price comparison and adjustment capability, that enables a vendor to assure a customer that she is getting the best price available for goods and/or services ordered through the network.